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Monday, February 18, 2013

Primal Eggplant Parmigiana Stacker

I bought an extra large eggplant with the intent of making eggplant fries. So I chopped the eggplant in half and began fastidiously breading and frying. The eggplant fries were delicious, but very time consuming.

So then I was left with half an eggplant, and I wasn't sure what to do to it. Being Italian, eggplant parmigiana was a staple in our household, and I always loved it, but I had never made it before. I searched out a couple of recipes online for a basic idea, and added some things that I had learned from my mom & grandmother, and voila!

This is the most delicious way I have ever had eggplant prepared before!

Ingredients:

For the sauce:

1 bottle of Strained Crushed Tomatoes (I use a 660 mL bottle by Aurora, the only ingredients are tomatoes & salt)

A few leaves of fresh basil

salt, pepper, garlic powder, oregano

For the eggplant:

1/4 cup almond flour

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

1-2 tbsp fresh chopped basil

salt, pepper garlic powder

1 egg

Olive Oil for frying

Method:

1. First start your sauce by dumping the entire bottle of crushed tomatoes into a sauce pan. Add a few leaves of fresh basil and your spices (the spices are always done to taste, rarely measured, in an Italian household - just taste the sauce as it's cooking and see if you need to add more). Start the sauce at a medium heat, and then lower it as it simmers. You can give it a stir once in a while, but mostly, it should be okay just sitting there.

2. In a shallow dish, combine your almond flour, parmesan cheese, basil and spices (again, spices are to taste... just give them a couple of shakes and you should be okay). In a separate dish, crack your egg and whisk it.

3. Slice your eggplant into rounds about 1/4 inch thick (mine was already sliced in half from the previous recipe, but rounds would be even better). Dip the eggplant into the egg, and then into the almond/parmesan to coat both sides. (If you need to make more breading, just keep the ratio of parmesan and almond meal at 1:1)

4. Place your eggplant into a hot skillet with a small amount of olive oil for frying. Cook on each side until the almond coating is browned and the eggplant is tender. Then place on a plate with a paper towel on the bottom.

5. When you are ready to plate the dish, serve in stacks with sauce in between each layer of eggplant (I found that stacking them 3-high was perfect). On the top layer, you can add some shredded mozzarella, more parmesan cheese, or a basil leaf for presentation.

This was honestly the best parmigiana I have ever had! I made enough intending for my husband to take it to work for dinner, but we both went back for not only seconds, but THIRDS! We ate the entire batch in one shot.

If you decide to try it out, leave a comment and let me know what you think!